Permanente and the Tsunami Relief Efforts--One Year Later--The Volunteers' Stories: A Journal

https://doi.org/10.7812/TPP/05-053

To get a complete picture of the Permanente physician, it is important to highlight life outside the normal work environment. Possibly nothing demonstrates the compassionate heart of Permanente better than the amazing response to the December 2004 tsunami disaster. Approximately three weeks after the tsunami struck the northern Sumatra province of Indonesia, I joined a medical-surgical team of volunteers from Baltimore. Although I have been on numerous short-term missions to developing countries, I was not prepared for the devastation. I was not alone; many other Kaiser Permanente (KP) volunteers joined the relief effort. You will see from their stories that they also had life-changing experiences.